She has just passed through a tragedy which has left an impress upon her whole life; Most wonderful of all, she is the only American girl who has ever refused a titled lover. This is her life story, told for the first time:-- _Chapter I.--Death:_ A woman's scream of agony! A strange scene, like an alchemist's den, the light of falling day reflected from test tubes and crucibles, revealing in dark corners uncouth appliances, queer diagrams, strange odours. Upon the floor the inert figure of the foremost of New York's chemists; above his prostrate form, wild-eyed with horror at seeing his dramatic death, a beautiful woman, the most beautiful in the world. This was the end of Prof. Carl Darmstetter; This was how the legacy of science came to Helen Winship. To carry it out, she has refused a title. _Chapter II.--Love:_ Born upon a Western farm, Helen Winship's father is a yeoman of the sturdy stock that has laid the world under tribute for its daily bread. Early she made the choice that devotes her life to science. She was the confidant of the dead chemist, whose torch of knowledge she took up firm-handed, when it fell from his nerveless fingers. She is vowed as a vestal virgin to science. Strange whim of destiny! Across this maiden life of devoted study came the shadow of a great name which for two hundred years has been blazoned upon the pages of England's history. In the loom of fate the modest gray warp of Helen Winship's life crossed the gay woof of a Lord of high degree, and left a strange mark upon the web of time. Love came to her--many times; but came at last in a guise that seldom woos in vain. _Chapter III.--Sacrifice:_ Who has forgotten the memorable scene in the Metropolitan Opera House, when the beautiful Miss Winship took the vast audience by storm, causing almost a panic, which was exclusively reported in these columns? It was followed by a greater sensation. Rumour ran through the ranks of the Four Hundred, and the rustle of it was as the wind in a great forest. For one of the proudest titles from beyond the sea, before which the wealth and fashion of the city had marshalled their attractions, had passed them by to kneel at the feet of the lovely scholar. The Earl of Strathay is the twelfth Earl of his house. He is twenty-one years old. His mother, the Countess Strathay, famous as a beauty, has been prominent in the "Prince's set." Witley Castle, his seat, is one of the show places of England, though financially embarrassed by the follies of the late Earl. It was Lord Strathay's intention, upon landing in New York to go West in a week; but he looked upon the fair investigator, and to look is to love. He laid his title at the feet of the lovely daughter of Democracy, but with that smile whose sweetness is a marvel to all men, she shook her beautiful head. She was wedded to learning. Fretted by the pain, he plunged into the wilderness to hide like a wounded deer.